Helping entrepreneurs execute

Big company strategies fail. More often than not, according to those who study such things. Why they fail might hold lessons for entrepreneurs, but overall they survive more often than start-ups – because they have cashflow, brand value and shareholders to tap.

Conventional entrepreneurship 'wisdom' suggests entrepreneurs should fail, or need to fail, because ' what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' or 'if you're going to fail do it fast', so you can pick yourself up quicker and tougher for the next time. That may all be helpful, but lets look at some simple approaches or disciplines to help you successfully execute an entrepreneur strategy if it has a chance. These draw on the 4 Disciplines of execution (Covey, Huling and McChesney, 2011). You can't guarantee any success just because you've got a good idea. As Thomas Edison said – 'Vision without execution is hallucination'.

What are the 4 disciplines of execution?

The 4 Disciplines of Execution are precise rules for translating strategy into action at all levels of an organisation. If there's just one level (you) then that's.....you. However, every successful entrepreneur begins to surround themselves with a network of people they are going to draw on for help – so apply these disciplines in that context. The 4 Disciplines produce extraordinary results by tapping the desire to win that exists in every individual.

1. Discipline 1 - The discipline of focus. Your chances of success will be heightened when you are clear about what matters most. Some speak of taming the whirlwind or blizzard of urgent things to do when you run an organisation. Covey et al talk about identifying the very few goals that are wildly important to succeed. For me, that would start with convincing myself and a few others that I'd work with that I had a viable product idea that a market wanted or could be persuaded to want. I would be trying to do this as cheaply as possible and before I started asking anyone to invest their time and money in me. .
2. Discipline 2 - The discipline of identifying and acting on lead measures. Have you identified lead measures for your goal? Lag measures tell you if you’ve achieved the goal, a lead measure tells you if you are likely to achieve the goal. Here's a simple example - you can't control how often your car breaks down (a lag measure) but you can certainly control how often your car receives routine maintenance (a lead measure). The more you act on the lead measure, the more likely you are to avoid a roadside breakdown. Different products or services could have different lead measures – but could include the number of requests you'd had for a demonstration, or the number of followers you get to a campaign,or level of competitor activity or enquiry. What are they for you?
3. Discipline 3 - The discipline of engagement. You have the authority to make things happen in your own world, but you want more than that - you want the performance that only the full engagement and passion of the team can bring. This energy helps you engage the passion-driven commitment of the team rather than trying to drive authority-driven compliance. Covey et al propose that you encourage your team to keep their own score on a dashboard that they generate. It needs very few components – where are we now, where do we want to be, when do we need to get there. People play differently when they are keeping score.
4. Discipline 4 - The discipline of accountability. Nothing happens until you follow through with consistent action. A lot of people will have been in organisations that have produced strategies that within months are gathering dust on a shelf. The brilliance of the product, service, plan, scheme, programme counts for nothing without follow-through action. Where you can only hold yourself to account you must set your own work programme and milestones, but even a friend or partner can help you stay on track. In a team what works best is shared accountability – when they hold each other to account, all of the time. People understanding why others are counting on them helps raise their own level of commitment.

Helpful and unhelpful behaviours

In an attempt to keep this brief I find it helpful to set myself clear priorities and milestones (they can be reviewed), and to understand lead measures of progress. I also find it helpful to have a couple of people I can trust to challenge me and talk things through. I find it unhelpful to procrastinate, to not work in any disciplined way, to assume I know best (better than the market!), and not to give myself some headspace occasionally to sort out the tricky problems.

Best execution to you!

Phil McSweeney supports start-ups - as a coach, angel, NED. Happy to explore collaboration if you are.